Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the ambassador and empathise sincerely with him on the difficulties facing his country. He may be aware that the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade came before the joint committee yesterday to discuss a post-European Council meeting report. The meeting dealt at length with various issues.

In his concluding remarks the ambassador referred to successive statements made by the Tánaiste as being supportive and understanding of the position of his people. As an Opposition spokesperson, I fully concur with the sentiments expressed by the Tánaiste on behalf of the Government. Those sentiments reflect the views of my party.

The ambassador referred to 16,000 Russian troops in Crimea. As he is aware, President Putin has denied that the Russian-speaking soldiers who are occupying key military sites in Crimea are members of Russia's special forces. Is the ambassador in a position to indicate whether the identity, status and allegiance of these soldiers been independently verified? The Chairman quite rightly referred to the OSCE mission. There were early indications that observers from the OSCE might be prevented from entering the Crimean Peninsula. Can the ambassador provide an update on that matter?

Media reports this morning indicated that there had been a failure to reach agreement at the Budapest talks involving Britain, the United States and Ukraine and that Russia did not participate in those talks. Is there any indication of a change in attitude on the part of the Russian Government in respect of the Budapest memorandum?

I must inform the Chairman that I am due to attend another meeting and that I may not be able to be present for much of the remainder of this one.